Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ MOTOCROSS 500cc MX Series: Round 10 ~ Four-stroke-m ou n ted riders Joel Smets (4) and Jacky Martens (11) fin ish ed 2-3 in the third mo to at th e 500cc GP in Luxembo urg . Ma rtens scored the ove rall win. Greg Albertyn clinch ed the World Ch ampionship 250cc MX title at th e Finnish G P. The 20-year-old South African p lans to compete in the U.S. Nationals ne xt year. ' Martens outlasts Nilsson in Luxembourg By Alex Hodgkinson KUELEBIERG, LUXEMBOURG, AUG. 8 t w,as a dash of the titans as title rivals Jacky Martens and Jorgen Nilsson literally s mashed into each other more than on ce during th e second of three intense 500cc Grand Prix motos a t the treacherously s lippery Kuelebierg track in the small country of Luxembourg, bordered by Belgiu m, Germany and France. An d when they had p u t asi de their weapons, it was the Husqvama four, stro ke ace Marten s, o f Belg ium, wh o came ou t on top in both the physi cal clashes and the day's overa ll results. More importantly, howeve r, Ma rte ns increased his se ries points lead over Nilsson to 14 with his fourth overall victory of the year. But his Swed ish adversary sho wed that he was not giving up the title chase by any means, by scoring a runaway win in the final moto, not only limiting his losses, but boosting his confidence a great deal as well. Martens' victory was not unexpected. Last year, the 30-yea r-old Belgian displayed the suitability of a four-stro ke on the Kuelebierg ("coal mountain ") track, the surface of which is composed o f waste material from the 19th century coal mining industry. Here, the track su rface polishes up like a skating rink and the two-stroke riders a re hampered with wheel sp in, while the mo re t ra ctable p ower deli very of four-stroke-driven bikes allows them to hook up. Martens, after gettin g off to a second place s ta rt in the firs t moto, mad e a midrace pass on Nilsson and eventually went on to score the win . "1 could've I 32 passed hi m any time," said Marten s. "He had some bad lines and 1 d idn't want to show him the better ones any earlier than necessary. 1might even hav e waited until the last lap but (Darryll ) King was coming fast and I didn't want to take the risk of him getting too close. I only opened it up a little on the last lap, jus t to make sure." New Zeal a nd er King w a s indeed moving up quickly. From an initial fifth, he soo n di splaced Bel g ia n s Gerald Delepine an d Johan Boonen to chase a fter th e lead ers, a nd went pa st Nilsson for secon d with two laps remaining. "There was mo re traction today," said King. "They had turned the surface and watered it, then the sun went behind the clo uds and it didn't p olish up quite so much as usua l. [could've go ne faster but you have to treat this track wi th respect. After I passed Jorgen I pulled back a second on Jacky, but I decided that I would ha ve to take too many ris ks to try to catch him on the last lap." Nilsson wa s ph iloso phi ca l about his loss of five points to Ma rtens. " I was pulling away a little in the first few laps, but [ was finding it difficult to relax and started to miss some lines," Nilsson said . "In the circumstances it was better to settle for third; one mista ke could have lost me many more po ints." Boonen was a lonely fourth until the rear brake cylinder was da maged five laps from the end, and Swede Marcus Hansson had to settle for fifth after gating eighth. Belgian Joel Smets crashed in the first turn and had to come up from last place. Along the way, he was lucky to escape d isqual ification when a supporter held his bike for him, as he kicked it back to life. Martens and Nilsson banged bars in the Second moto. Nilsson aga in grabbed the holesh ot w ith Martens movi ng up fro m seven th to fourth beh ind Bri t Jared Smi th and Hansson on the opening lap . By the I8-minute mark Hansson had worked his way into second, and then he forced his way under his fellow coun tryman, Nilsso n. Two laps later, Martens m ov ed into th ird a nd began d oggin g Nilsson. The two riders touched w hen Martens forced his way under Nilsson in a turn be fore the fini sh lin e, and the Sw ede ca me back at the next corn e r . They to uch ed again but Nilsson went d own and was able to rem ount in third just ahea d of Smets . "He (Martens) took me really hard in that corner befor e the finish line," sai d Nilsso n of the altercati on. "I decided to d o the sa me to him in the next tum. We tou ched and I went down." " I don' t kn ow what h e (Ni ls s o n) th inks he is p layi ng at," said Mar ten s. " He cut me like a knife al read y so many ti mes be fore I pa ssed him . Okay, we touch ed whe n I passed him . It wa s a hard pass, b u t I thi n k it was fa ir. He came straight for me in the next comer and wen t down himself. It isn' t so easy to knoc k over a four -stroke. If he wants to start that, I can do it as well. "Hansson was riding good and I don't know if 1 could have caught him," added Martens, "but it didn 't matter. Two points was eno ugh." When asked why he had passed his championship-chasing co m pa trio t and fellow H ond a rider, Bone n ans wered, "I'm riding for myself. I' m not interfering wi th anybody else, butI'm still chasing third place in the cha m pionship myself." Smets gated well but ran wide in turn one before catching back up to fourth. Nilsson finally got his act together in the third mo to. He nailed the holeshot for the third time in a row and went on to score a ru naway w in. "I just relaxed and started to find the lines," said Nilsson. Martens was soon second but jus t could not catch his rival. "1 was trying, but he was jus t too fast in that race." The highli ght of the moto was a racelong struggle for third between Ha nsson and Smets, which was finally decided in favor of the effervescent Husaberg fourstroke rider. "It was a hard fight and we touched ma ny times, bu t it was fair," sai d Hansson. "Smets was just a bit faster than me in the end." (;\' Resul ts O /A: 1. Jack y Martens (H u!J); 2. jorge n Ni lsson (Hon); 3. Ma rcus Hansson (H on ); 4. DanyU King (Kaw ); S. Joel Smets (Hb g); 6. Gerald Delepi ne (Hon ); 7. Ka rl Sulzer (KTM); 8. Brian Wheeler (Kaw); 9. Johan &0""" (Ka w); 10. Jar ed Sm it h (Kaw) ; 11. Sore n Morten sen (Kaw); 12. Siggi Bauer (Kaw): 13. Rudu Van Leeuw en (Hon ); 14. Jason Higg s (KTM) ; 15. Wa rren Ed wa rds (Han); 16. Mervyn Anstie (Han) ; 17. Jo Martens (Han); 18. Gianmarco Faussone (Kaw) ; 19. Loris Gatti (Hon); 20. David Thorpe (Hon); 21. Ronny weustenraed (Kaw); 22. Emanu ele Giova nne lli (Ho n); 23. Attilio Pignotti (Hon). MOTO 1: I. Jacky Martens; 2. King; 3. Nilsson; 4. Hansson; 5. Delepine; 6. Wheel er ; 7. Van Leeuwen; 8. Boonen ; 9. Sulzer; 10. Faussone; 11. Mortensen; 12. Smets; 13. Tborpe: 14. Smith; 15. Edw ard s. MOTO :z,1. Hansson; 2. Jacky Martens; 3. N i1sson;4. Sm e ts ; 5. Del epine; 6. Boonen; 7. Smith; 8. King ; 9. Ed wa rds; 10. Sulzer; 11. Anstie; 12. Jo Martens; n . Weustenra

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